A/N: I do NOT own HyperDimension Neptunia or any of the characters. I only own my own character Chris MacDuncan, and this story.


Chapter 3: A Surprise Twist?!

"Ugh… This is just not my week…" I mutter as I come to, but as I attempt to stand, I notice my hand is glowing… No, wait, my entire body is! Right as I start to panic, the glow stops and my body is back to normal. I just stare for a moment, trying to process what just happened. Then I remember about Neptune and Compa and quickly look around for them. I notice them on the ground a little ways away, so I run towards them.

"Neptune! Compa! Are you two alright?" I ask, almost yelling, as I reach where they are. Neptune is the first to stir, and when she sits up and looks around.

"Nepu… Why is it always falling?" Neptune asks, looking slightly upset. "Hey, Chrissie, any idea where we are?" She asks as she looks around.

"You really just are not going to stop calling me that name, are you?" I ask, and she responds by smiling and shaking her head no. "Ah, fine, I'll deal with it for now. As for where we are, I have no clue… I know it's a cave, but this cave is far more beautiful than any of the ones I've seen back home." I say, and I mean it. There are crystals coming out from all over the place, and the natural formation of the cave is unusual. Neptune smiles and laughs at that.

"Yeah, I have to agree with you there." She says, and then the two of us notice Compa coming to. Neptune says "Compa, are you alright?" Compa nods as she sits up, and shakes her head.

"Oww… Arc, next time, give us a warning before you pull a sword out of the ground, okay?" Compa says, and I scratch my head with a sheepish look on my face after hearing that.

"Yeaaah… Sorry about that. I got a little carried away. The ground got back at me by forcing a rock down my throat though. It wasn't big, but it was defiantly uncomfortable." I say, giving a small smile.

"Anyways, so thanks to Chrissie, we are now under the forest, I think… Hey, what's this?" Neptune says as she picks something up off the ground. It looks like a piece of something, but with the other parts missing, I can't tell what it is. "Compa, do you know what this is?" Neptune asks, while showing it to Compa.

"Hmm… I've never seen anything like this before, sorry Nep-Nep." Compa says, and when they turn to ask me, I shake my head no. While they debate on what it could be, I suddenly remember about Faolan. I let out a high-pitched whistle, and a bark responds as Faolan bounces towards me with my sword held in his mouth. I accept the sword back, scratch behind his ears a little, and sheath the sword. Immediately after I do so, a loud roar echos, so I spin to see whats going on.

"Alright, who triggered the event flag?" Neptune complains as a large monster approaches. It… looks to be a cross between a spider and something else, but it's wielding a large sword. It is obviously more powerful than the other enemies we have fought in the forest.

"What in the world is that thing?!" I shout as we all back away. Unfortunatly, it managed to grab Compa before we could get to a safe distance.

"Eeeek! H-Help me Nep-Nep, Arc!" She screams to us. While I try to come up with an idea, Neptune is yelling about how Compa is being- damn it, Neptune…

"Neptune, what are you talking about?" I ask her, as she just scratches her head and laughs.

"Oh, you know, just fan service stuff." She says, resulting in me facepalming again. "Come on, Chrissie, let's teach this thing a lesson!" She yells as she charges at the creature. I follow in close as I draw my sword. I have Faolan sit this fight out since I don't want to risk losing him. We attack the creature, but it seems as if our weapons have no effect on it.

"It would seem that the two of you are having some trouble." A voice speaks out, surprising both me and Neptune.

"Wait, is that you, Histoire?" I ask, hoping the voice can hear me. A light giggle seems to confirm that she can.

"Yes, I'm sorry about surprising you; there really wasn't a good moment for me to speak up." Histoire replies, when suddenly Neptune's eyes light up in joy.

"Hey, Histy, do you think you would be able to help us?" Neptune asks, earning a sigh from Histoire.

"I cannot help you, unfortunately, but if you could activate your Hard Drive Divinity, you should be able to handle it." Histoire replies, but only manages to confuse the both of us.

"Um, Histoire, Neptune here lost her memory, so I think she will need your help doing whatever that is…" I say, looking concerned.

"I see, that explains a lot, actually. Alright, I will force run Hard Drive Divinity from you, Neptune. Are you ready?" Histoire asks, to which Neptune nods. Suddenly, a bright flash of light bursts from Neptune. It would seem that this caught even the monster off guard. When the light fades, where Neptune had been stood none other than…

"Purple Heart…?" I whisper in surprise. Did Neptune just transform into Purple Heart? From the look on her face, she seems to be just as confused as I am.

"This is Neptune's true form. Now you should be able to defeat that monster." Histoire says, but as she says this, my arm starts to glow.

"Alright, why does my body keep trying to glow? It's really starting to freak me out!" I say, which gets Histoire's attention. After a moment, she lets out a gasp.

"There is a stone inside you… but it's one that shouldn't exist in this world!" Histoire informs me, which just makes me even more worried.

"So, is it going to kill me, or is it safe?" I ask, slightly scared. Histoire stops talking for a moment, then she responds.

"It seems as if your body has adapted to respond positively with it, so you are safe. In fact, it seems that it currently is increasing your natural strength. You should have new abilities you never knew of now." She says, sounding a little surprised. I concentrate, focusing to see if I can discover the new abilities. Images flash through my head of new possible attacks and I grin, and then frown when a thought occurs. "While these may be useful, could Rakari survive me using these…?" I think to myself, then shake my head and think "Of course Rakari can! It was able to handle Black Heart's sword, so I'm sure it can handle these!" I draw Rakari from its sheathe once again, but notice that the usual cyan blade was now a goldish color. Before I can question it though, Compa yells out.

"Nep-Nep, Arc, please, help me!" She screams, and I remember what was going on. I look at Purple Heart, noticing she just remembered about Compa as well.

"So Neptune, shall we deal with this thing?" I ask her, which she responds with a nod. "Alright, let's save Compa!" I shout, and I charge at the monster. It swings its huge sword at me, but Purple Heart blocks it. She then charges at it with blinding speed, building up an attack.

"Cross Combination!" Purple Heart shouts as she unleashes several sword strikes. I find it weird that she shouted her attack when… wait…"Maybe that's what I need to do!" I think, and focus on one of the new abilities. Rakari's blade changes from the gold color back to cyan, and water forms around it as it glows.

"Divine Aqua Blade!" I shout as I slash the monster five times. The monster lets out a roar of pain as it uses its sword to knock both of us away. I look at it, and notice that it's going after Purple Heart! I focus on another ability, and the blade changes color to be a lighter blue and starts pulsing with its glow, electricity forming around the blade.

"This divine lightning shall pierce the skies! Rakari's Fury!" I shout as a bolt of lightning strikes Rakari, and I charge at the monster, hitting it with a flurry of strikes, and ending with cutting off the arm that's holding Compa. The monster is hit by a bolt of lightning after the arm was severed. It gives off an unsettling scream as it turns and flees. I look back at where Purple Heart was, and noticed that she had changed back to Neptune, who is helping Compa out of the severed hand. I smile, when a powerful wave of exhaustion hits me.

"Thank you for saving me, Nep-Nep. You too, Arc!" Compa says cheerfully, then notices me swaying where I am standing. "Um, Arc? Are you okay?" She asks, looking worried.

"I'll be fine… Though I get the feeling I'll need you two to help get me out of here…" I say with a low laugh, and then I collapse.

"Arc!" "Chrissie!" I hear them shout as my vision fades to black.


"Chris, can you hear me?" A voice asks, and as I concentrate, I realize it's Histoire's voice.

"Yeah, ugh… Yeah, I hear you, Histoire." I reply, not even bothering to try to look for her.

"Good, I was worried when you just passed out in that cave. You ended up using too much energy, but you managed to save both Compa and Neptune. For that, I thank you." She says, sounding relieved. I feel happy to know people were worried about me. But I have a feeling she needed to talk to me about something.

"I'm glad to know someone was worried about me. I get the feeling that wasn't the reason you decided to talk to me, though." I say, feeling a smile form on my face.

"That is correct; I have a few things I want to talk to you about. The first of which is Neptune's identity." Histoire says, which causes me to frown.

"Go on…" I reply.

"As you could see, Neptune is also Purple Heart. What you do not know is that she is the CPU of Planeptune, the nation you are currently in. However, due to her memory loss, she does not know this, therefor, I request that you do not tell her who she really is." Histoire says, surprising me.

"But… Why would you-" I start to ask, but she cuts me off.

"If Neptune were to learn that she was actually the goddess of the nation, it would force massive pressure on her. With how she is right now, she could possibly crack under the pressure, and I know none of us want that." Histoire says sadly, and as much as I want to argue, I know she is right.

"Alright, I understand. I won't tell her." I say, and I hear Histoire sigh in relief.

"Thank you for that. The next two things involve each other in a way. The object that Neptune found in that cave is a Key Fragment, one of many that are needed to lift the seal on me." Histoire explains, and I can't help but let out a small laugh.

"So that's what they look like! That should make it a little easier to find them." I say, earning a giggle from Histoire.

"I probably could have described them last time, sorry about that. However, I do have another request, one that you could do while hunting the fragments. That request would be for you to attempt to befriend the CPUs of the other nations. You have already become decent friends with Neptune, which would leave the three you fought on Celestia." Histoire says, and I can't help but feel somewhat awkward.

"Two things," I say, "First, what is Celestia? Second, I'll try to befriend them, but I'm slightly scared of what will happen if I visit Black Heart… After all, we didn't exactly have a great first meeting." I say, scratching my head. Histoire laughs a little at my awkwardness.

"Yes, I was able to see that meeting. Don't hold it against her, that's just how Lady Black Heart usually is. As for your question, Celestia is an inbetween neutral land. Only the goddesses ever visit there, and lately it has been their battleground for fighting the Console Wars. Why you woke up there is beyond me, but it was probably for the best." Histoire explains, making me feel reassured. So I have to travel with Neptune to find the Key Fragments and befriend the other goddesses… Well, this is more excitement than I ever would have had in my own world.

"Alright then, Histoire, I will do as you request. I will search for the Key Fragments and attempt to befriend the CPUs. Is there anything else you wanted to say?" I ask as an afterthought, but it seemed to be right.

"Yes. The last thing I want to talk about is the stone you swallowed by accident. It seems that as you train more, it helps you grow stronger than you usually would. It seems that it has also adapted your sword to change blades bases on the element of your attack, for example, the cyan blade has the water affinity, and red has the fire affinity, and so on. Though I believe the light blue blade that pulses is the sword's true form." Histoire explains, but before I can interrupt, she continues talking. "Anyways, there seems to be something else it is doing, but I cannot figure out what it is at the moment. It may be revealed later, but for now, it seems that it will aid you greatly on your journey." She says, and I can't help but smile due to the fact that she found this information for my sake.

"Thank you, Histoire, it means a lot to me that you care. So, I guess it's time for me to wake up, right?" I say, and I look around, still seeing black.

"Indeed, Neptune and Compa are worried sick about you." She says, and as everything starts getting brighter, her voice starts to fade as I hear her say something. "Also, beware… of the wit… named Arfoi…" and before she finishes talking her voice fades away and everything is bright again.


A/N: And that's it for Chapter 3! Things ended up getting intense with the fight against the Guard Vermin, (Yes, I know, Chris and everyone else don't know that's what it is, but I don't care, most of you should know that's what it was.) and Neptune is revealed to be Purple Heart! Dun dun duuuuun! In all seriousness, though, it would seem Chris is being empowered by that stone that was forced down his throat. I know I kinda BSed it there, but I figured it was the best way to get it to work. What the stone is shall remain a secret for now, but I will give a hint. There are two possibilities to what it could be. Anyways, Faolan didn't get much screen time this chapter, but come on, a dogoo vs a guard vermin? That's a very unfair match-up. As you could tell, Rakari's blade changes color depending on the element of the attack Chris uses. That effect changes the element of the sword itself, as well. For those who don't know, the line "This Divine Lightning shall pierce the skies!", the name Rakari, and its pulsing light blue form are from the ROM hack of Fire Emblem called The Last Promise. It was always a sword that I really liked, even if I was never able to use it. Anyways, that's enough for this chapter. Please feel free to leave a review about what you think about the story so far, and also any advice to make it better. Also, PM me if you want to make a prediction on what will happen next, or what the stone possibly is. Thank you so much for reading, and for the positive feedback. I will see you all again in the next Chapter!